Birmingham City Council has acknowledged the disruption and financial costs that unauthorised encampments cause
12:02, 02 Sep 2025Updated 12:02, 02 Sep 2025
Travellers move onto Cofton Park in Birmingham(Image: Nick Wilkinson/Birmingham Live)
Cash-strapped Birmingham Council is advertising a £50,000-plus job involving “dealing with difficult conversations” as it looks to reset its relationship with the travelling community.
Encampments have taken their toll on the city in recent weeks and months, with caravans parked at sites in areas such as Longbridge, Bartley Green, Yardley, Billesley and Kings Heath.
The council, which declared itself effectively bankrupt in 2023, has acknowledged the disruption and clean-up costs that come with such unauthorised encampments.
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Plans are being worked on to tackle the issue, including proposals to introduce temporary sites for travellers.
Now the Labour-run authority wants to provide a “joined-up health and well-being offer” for the Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller (GRT) community.
“The council will look to provide dedicated officers with an on-site presence on transit sites to build relationships with the GRT community to understand their wider needs,” the report said.
It has advertised for a new role – a Gypsy and Traveller Sites Housing Manager.
Duties include the management of traveller sites and developing professional working relationships with communities and stakeholders.
Birmingham City Council House(Image: Nick Wilkinson/Birmingham Live)
“You will work agilely between sites and council offices and be the first point of call for the when the Traveller site is in use,” the job listing read.
“You must have excellent communication skills and experience in dealing with difficult conversations.”
Potential tasks of the role, which was advertised with a salary of up to £51,356, included:
- Opening and closing of the GRT Site and supporting residents to access payment systems and explaining the site rules.
- Managing Anti-social behaviour issues.
- Responding to day-to-day enquiries.
- Conducting regular inspections of the site.
- Working with Partners to take action where needed.
Despite plans for a ‘reset’, the council has faced a backlash over the ‘glacial progress’ of plans to introduce temporary sites for travellers.
The city’s two permanent transit sites, where travellers can be directed to, have both suffered issues in the past – one because of repeated damage and vandalism and the other because it is home to “long-term occupants”.
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The council is planning to introduce a ‘negotiated stopping’ pilot which would see unused pieces of land in the city used by travellers for “short term stays”.
But the authority previously pushed the start date back from June to October.
A recent council report said the consultation with communities and businesses near the proposed stopping sites was due to take place in August and September.
Amid frustration from councillors over the “little progress” being made, a council officer blamed the delay on ‘site identification and resourcing’ issues at a meeting during the summer.
“We have been working very hard on identifying sites and getting a shortlist up for the potential consultation,” she said. “But due to the criteria for the sites, that is proving quite difficult.”
On the possible sites, a council report published ahead of the meeting said: “An initial shortlist has been drawn up by officers.
“It is being considered jointly by planning, housing and property colleagues before wider consultation can take place on a finalised shortlist.”
The council has in the past pledged to take “everyone’s views into consideration” over the pilot scheme, which is set to last for at least 12 months, and said it was also focusing on “community cohesion”.